Tag: costume

Last weekend daylight savings time began. For those of you not in the USA, it’s a charming custom whereby we set our clocks back one hour until spring. (Not everyone does this – it’s a whole big thing…)

For me, this is when autumn starts to feel real. Here in Rhode Island, the sun is now setting at 4:30PM! I think at a subconscious level, I knew I had to prepare. October found me as busy as a squirrel collecting acorns and about as focused. Unfortunately, that meant that many projects have gone unblogged.

Rather than go into a lot of detail (for a change), I’m just going to share some October highlights.

Fall Wardrobe Sewing

I didn’t do a lot of ambitious sewing in October. I finished a few projects I started earlier in the year though.

I made another pull-on knit circle skirt from the Butterick B6578 pattern. The skirt was part of my original Fall 2018 sewing plan and coordinates nicely with the rest of the collection. I made View A. The fabric is a nice brushed poly from Sincerely Rylee.

Also for Fall, I made a neat cloche hat with leftover green twill. More on that below.

I also finished another fit and flare top using McCall’s M7356. This top was actually constructed from my original muslin. The fabric is way too thin, but I never intended to use it for real. I just really liked how the muslin looked. So I took out all of the basting and put it together properly. There are a few imperfections, but I think with a camisole I will wear it a lot. I go into more detail on my pattern review here.

Above: Fall cloche and fit and flare top

Vintage Handkerchiefs

Some of my nifty new old things – oh, the possibilities!

My Mom has saved all kinds of interesting things, including a number of old handkerchiefs from the 1930s to the 1960s. I took some back to Providence after my last visit to incorporate into my fabric stash. After a bit of effort, I now have 34 clean, ironed bits of old-fashioned charm. The collection is a veritable needlecraft sampler, with hemstitching, tatted lace, appliqué, embroidery, and crocheted edges. I can’t wait to start playing around with them! I have already started a board on Pinterest to collect ideas.

I blocked some of the lacier handkerchiefs

Halloween

Spoiler: I did not sew my costume. But I will take credit for making the accessories that pulled it together. This year I dressed as a suffragist. I can well imagine that this might have been me in reality if I have been alive 100 years ago.

The dress I found in my Mom’s closet – she wore it in the 1970s. Since we have an election around the corner, I thought a suffragist would be fun.

I found a free downloadable cloche pattern which I used to throw together a vintage style hat. I’ve never made a hat before. It was much easier than I thought. Since the individual pieces are so small, I was able to use scraps alone. The ribbon is even saved from a Christmas package. I wound up making two hats because I misread the instructions the first time and sewed the seams with too narrow of an allowance. This led to a large and loose hat, which someone else might enjoy some day. I cut out another hat, following the directions the second time. The fabric is scavenged from the scraps of my fall 2018 collection, so it coordinates with everything. It’s already found it’s way into my closet. I reviewed the pattern on patternreview.comhere. The pattern itself was from the website sewmamasew.com. There are gorgeous versions of this cloche and other styles for sale on Etsy at the Etsy store Elsewhen Millenery.

The sash came out again on election day. It felt pretty good to wear it at the polling place.

I made the sash using some plain unbleached muslin. The lettering was really easy. I found a font that was close to the one used by the marchers in historical photos. I typed the words, scaled them to the size needed for the sash, then flipped them to be mirror image. Then I used my inkjet printer to print it on an Avery light fabric transfer sheet. I followed the instructions on the box to iron the lettering onto my sash. I think it looks great.

Knitting

As if that were not enough, I somehow found myself in a yarn store early in the month. I am constitutionally incapable of leaving a yarn shop without buying anything. This time was no exception. I have been knitting my way through my purchases. So far, I have finished two winter hats, both with the same yarn. I’m keeping one for me and the other for donating. I have a bunch of other works in progress, which I will add to the blog as I finish. For other knitters (and curious onlookers), you can find my work going back to 2004 on Ravelry.comhere.

Winding yarn for the next project

Embroidery

I finished a couple of embroidered day-of-the-week dishtowels recently. Aren’t they adorable? They are made in the same way as the ones in this post from earlier this year, only with a different iron-on design. You can find the puppy design here.

Mending and Editing

I have been making my way through the work basket as well lately. In the past month, I have mended or altered at least 6 items from my work pile. They have all been there so long that it seems like I just went shopping and came home with 6 new things. I haven’t seen the bottom of the pile yet, but I think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. I’ll feature some of the more interesting upcycles in the coming months.

Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicised and taught. Wikipedia

I recently attended the 2018 DesignXri Designer’s Ball. The theme was Bauhaus Bash in honor of the Bauhaus design movement’s 100th anniversary. Predictably, if you give talented, creative people a spark of inspiration, you get remarkable results. I knew I would have to come up with something good!

To achieve this look, I went shopping in my closet. The dress was just a simple black knit dress that has been hanging around waiting for warmer weather. When you look at Bauhaus designs, you see a lot of simple shapes, primary colors, high contrast and humor. That inspired me to make a pattern of bold stripes and circles. Easiest (and most reversible) way – duct tape. I applied the stripes just by eye. The circles are made by layering strips of tape on my cutting mat and using a utility knife to cut out the circular shapes.

The element that really makes the outfit is the “sleeves.” The sleeve apparatus is made from two inexpensive plastic IKEA placemats, some ribbon, some cable ties, and one strategically placed safety pin.

Add some slicked-down hair, red lipstick and a sense of adventure and the outfit is done!

The whole thing took about 4 hours to put together – or 8 if you count all of the time I spent browsing the internet.

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I really can’t say enough about this great event. For some great photos of how other people interpreted the theme, check out JTJ Photography. For more information on DesignXri, check out their website:http://www.designxri.com

Ladies, are you pressed for time and want a quick no-sew or low-sew costume? How about Rosie the Riveter? It’s quick to do and easy to wear!

You’ll need:

Blue work shirt – must have collar. buttons, and sleeves

Dark work pants or overalls

Lace-up shoes, work boots, or loafers

1 yard red fabric with white dots or similar bandanna

A little bit of makeup and a “We can do it!” attitude

Optional items:

Button for collar

Classic lunchbox

Power tool or mock-up

Here’s how my costume shaped up.

I started gathering things about a month before Halloween. I had shoes and makeup already. I got the clothes from secondhand shops. I bought the fabric for the bandana online, and I found the lunchbox on etsy.

Depending on what you can find to work with, you may need to spend more or less time pulling things together.

Re-hemming the pants was the only sewing needed.

Step 1: Pants or overalls

I started out with a dark denim jumpsuit, which I chose only for the dark color and loose fitting legs. I needed to take off about 2 inches of length to make them work for me, so I did a quickie hem on my machine. If they hadn’t have had a flared shape, I would have just rolled them into cuffs.

The headwrap came next. I folded the fabric up from one corner to make the largest equilateral triangle I could. I cut across the hypotenuse to make an extra-large bandana. After some experimentation, I found that folding it in half worked the best.

How to tie:

I have short hair, so I didn’t have to do anything special first. But if your hair is long, think about pinning it as flat to your head as you can, or tucking it into a wig cap.

With the fabric folded into a right triangle, position it so the right angle is on your forehead, kind of pointing to your nose. The long edge should be centered at the nape of the neck.

Wrap the long edge forward on both sides so all three points meet in front. Tie snugly. Tuck in any loose material. To look like the poster, adjust it a little so part of your hairline shows.

I did my makeup next. It was pretty easy – the classic Rosie images show a woman with dark arched eyebrows, pink cheeks and lipstick. There are so many tutorials out there to demonstrate how to apply makeup in a 1940’s style, I won’t go into detail here. My only tip would be to go for a long-wearing lipstick – then you can eat all of the candy you like without messing up your look!

Since I was wearing a jumpsuit, I just knotted the shirt at the waist. I would have tucked it in if I had been able to find pants. Don’t forget to roll up the sleeves.

I put my 21st century technology into my lunchbox and put on my shoes. Done!

This is such a great costume to wear. You can move around, eat and drink – even put a coat on over it if you must.

Simplicity’s take on the idea

After I did my costume, I found that Simplicity carries a pattern for Rosie, Simplicity 8447. I think I missed it on my initial search because it is in the Vintage category, not Costumes. Has anyone out there tried it? Their version goes the overalls route, but is pictured with the same lunchbox!

What do you think? You can do it!

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